A Santa Fe woman and her three young kids are thrilled to be safe and home after spending hours lost in Santa Fe National Forest Wednesday night.

Denise Lee spent this New Year's Day out hiking with her kids, who are 1, 3 and 7 years old. They took a wrong turn and as it was getting darker and colder, realized they were in trouble.

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"The kids stayed really strong." Lee said after returning back to the parking area. "They're amazing. They're troopers. I definitely didn't think that we were going to make it out tonight. It was pretty scary. I had some tense moments. We started singing 'Jesus Loves Me.' I told them to be strong."

Lee had sporadic cellphone service and was able to call 911 and her family for help. After she spoke with the New Mexico Search and Rescue incident commander, the commander was able to figure where Lee and her children were. A state police officer and the Atalaya Search and Rescue team then located the family and brought them to safety.

The Atalaya Search and Rescue crew, who are medical professionals, checked out the found hikers and determined no one was hurt.

It took rescue crews less than two hours to locate the missing family after receiving the call.

"It's really frightening when the sun starts going down and you see the temperature dropping and know that your daughter and your three little grandchildren are out there," said Linda Trujillo, Santa Fe School Board President, whose family was lost in the forest. "I'm just so thankful to God that they're found and everybody's going to be OK."

Lee said she hopes this is a wake-up call for better signage in the forest. The New Mexico Search and Rescue incident commander agrees and said they're constantly looking for missing hikers on these trails.

In response, Santa Fe National Forest officials said they believe the forest trails have adequate signage, but want to speak with those involved in this incident to see if they can improve the signage.

Forestry officials also said they don't want to put up too many signs because they need to balance keeping hikers safe and the natural beauty of the forest.